Wednesday WOOT! Factor.

Kids. I have to tell you how excited I am to share this amazing chick with you- @Skwigg!! Her website is Skwigg.com. 

Honestly, she is the first woman I really started reading, when I got into reading blogs WAAAYYYY back when, when Body For Life first came out. She was running (and may still run) a BFL forum and I met her, asked her questions via email and she always wrote back with great answers. I was so starstruck. And....it was Skwigg that first got me on TWITTER!! AMEN GIRL!! 

I have looked up to her for years and years- she has a GREAT site, a great attitude and has tried out any and every fitness product and approach on the market - simply because she wants to see what it is all about. I take in her blog posts like GOLD. I truly think the world of this woman and am proud to feature her on today's WWF!!!!

Here we go!! Enjoy!

1.       When did you first start working out and why?

I was a spazzy kid, which probably doesn't surprise anybody. :-) I was always into gymnastics, running, climbing, skateboarding, taking flying leaps off of things, just your general spazzery. All of that kind of stopped as a teenager because I wanted to look cool and not like a raging dork cartwheeling down the street. Luckily, there was gym class, which I generally hated, but it put me in a weight room for the first time when I was 15. I was hooked. I started buying fitness magazines and carrying barbells home from garage sales.

2.       Are you at your “Happy Place” right now – meaning more of a maintenance mode, or are you still in a weight loss mode?

I'm definitely in a happy place now, and it only took a couple of decades to get here! 

3.       If you are in maintenance mode, do you feel that you work just as hard to maintain your level of fitness as you did to lose it?

Maintenance is almost a myth. To maintain your weight, you have to keep doing whatever you did to lose it. Maintenance looks exactly like active weight loss if you're truly maintaining. If you take it a little easier and have some more treats, that's called backsliding.

4.       What does your current workout “routine” look like now?

I do a 30-40 minute total body strength workout three days per week. I really mix that up between dumbbells, kettlebells, body weight, calisthenics, and my TRX suspension trainer. I usually do circuits or supersets to keep the calorie burn high and maximize the time. I also love Pilates and fit in a mat class or equipment session whenever I can.

5.       What do you do for cardio? How often?

I walk the dog 3-5 miles up and down hills every morning. It takes about an hour or an hour and a half. We run sprints once or twice a week while we're out there. Also, my strength workouts are pretty banging high-heart rate affairs with kettlebell swings and jump squats and whatnot. I don't do sit-down isolation workouts with rest periods.

6.       Do you workout at home or the gym?

I was a gym rat for years but now I love working out at home. I used to think that if I wanted a home gym I'd have to buy a cardio machine and one of those huge weight stack home gym things. Who has the cash or space for that? Once I realized that dumbbells, body weight exercises, kettlebells and calisthenics were the way to go, there was no reason to drive somewhere to use a chest press machine or pedal a stationary bike.

7.       What do you say to those that haven’t gotten fit and complain that they don’t because they “can’t get motivated”?

If you're not fit and not motivated to take care of yourself, nothing I say or do is going to make any difference. Motivation is an internal thing. It comes straight from your heart. You have to find your own meaningful reasons for change. If you rely on other people and external things to motivate you (trainers, diet plans) you'll always relapse when left to your own devices. If you get honest with yourself, clear on your goals, and excited about what the future holds then nothing can stop you.

8.       What about any/all of the excuses like “No time”, “No money”, “no gym”, “no support”? 

I used to think that anybody who said those things was just lazy or not prioritizing, but sometimes people genuinely believe incorrect assumptions. They think if they want to be fit they have to go to the gym six days a week, hire a trainer, join a pricey coaching group, go on a strict low carb diet, work out an hour or more a day, or some other imagined hold-up. They take that *one thing* they're not willing to do and use it as an excuse not to do anything. There is always a solution or an alternative. You can do 10-20 minute workouts instead of 90 minute workouts. You can train at home instead of the gym. You can use your own body weight instead of buying expensive equipment. You can join a free online group instead of going to pricey meetings.

9.       What does your “diet” look like i.e. how you eat, what is your Philosophy?

I eat mostly whole foods and mostly plants but nothing is off limits. I don't "diet" anymore or follow anybody else's rules but I do control portions and emphasize healthy choices. I don't really like the term "intuitive eating" because it's so broad but if you had to label me, intuitive eater is probably a pretty good description. I listen to my own hunger cues and food preferences. I make changes based on my own results.

10.   What changes have you made over the past several years in your diet and/or workout approach and why?

I used to be the most obsessive food kook in the world. I wrote down everything I ate for years. I tracked it all in software. I calculated macronutrient ratios. I did fasted cardio. I timed my post workout re-feed window. I read all the supplement research and bought all the powders and pills. I carried a cooler. I paid a trainer. I followed bodybuilding diets. I really hated all that. It got me the body I wanted (at the time) but I was miserable, stressed out, broke and exhausted. 

A couple of years ago it dawned on me that I prefer a smaller, still fit, but more girly look - less size, not as shredded - so why was I still eating and training like a bodybuilder? That was a major moment for me, like I had the cartoon lightbulb over my head and everything. I quit with the six meals a day, the forced protein and the cooler carrying and started dropping pounds and inches while enjoying my food and workouts more.

11.   What is your food weakness?

Hmmm, I can eat whatever I want, but I guess the thing I'd be most likely to eat overeat is Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I'm not rational once I taste it.

12.   What is your favorite healthy breakfast?

I denied myself breakfast cereal for years. Too many carbs, not enough protein, blah, blah, blah. Now it's my favorite. I use a tiny kid bowl (Spiderman!!) for portion control and top the cereal with blueberries and almond milk. If I'm not in a cereal mood I'll make a green smoothy with spinach, mango, banana and vanilla Sun Warrior rice protein powder. If I have to run out the door I'll grab a Larabar, an apple and a bottle of green tea.

13.   When did you start blogging and why?

I started blogging seven years ago and I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. :-) I thought it would be like my own little journal where I could write about my fitness adventures and maybe a friend or two would read it. I didn't grasp that it would become this giant public thing with readers all over the world.

14.   How has blogging enhanced your fitness efforts?

Well, I have this mob of people following my every move, asking questions, commenting on everything I say and do and eat. It makes it kind of impossible to screw up! :-) Through blogging, I've met many great trainers and coaches and learned so much from other bloggers sharing their stories. I feel very connected and supported.

15.   What is your Twitter/FB/Email/blog URL?

http://www.skwigg.com/blog/ 

http://twitter.com/skwigg

skwigg at gmail dot com

16.   What haven’t you done (fitness wise) that you’d like to try?

I've never been to a yoga class! I should get on that. 

17.   What motivates you to keep at it?

I want to be a kick ass, healthy, independent old person. I want to look good, feel good, and have the energy to follow my dreams. I'm not willing to trade an inactive fast food lifestyle now for a wheelchair and a nursing home later.

18.   Are you a morning workout person or evening or lunchtime?

I workout in the morning, but not like o'dawn thirty. If I had to get up in the dark to go to the gym...that would suck. I usually do the dog cardio around 7:30 or 8:00 and strength train or catch a Pilates session around 9:30 or 10:00. 

19.   What is YOUR biggest excuse that you find yourself battling in not wanting to workout a certain day?

I don't have any excuses. Even if I managed to think of one, my crazy herding dog would bark and nip and give me the crazy eye until she got me out the door. If you have trouble getting motivated, buy something that will bite you in the ass. 

20.   Do you weigh yourself or measure yourself?

I quit being such a freak about tape measures, body fat calipers and progress photos. I'm somebody who will tweak over shadows and millimeters and tenths of percentage points so I don't set myself up to obsess. I do step on a Tanita body fat scale most mornings. The weight is very accurate and the body fat is entertaining if nothing else. It can fluctuate like crazy for minor reasons (and is least accurate in the morning!) but you can definitely tell if it's trending up or down. The scale also measures water balance so it will clearly show if a weight swing is because you're dehydrated or bloated or whatever. 

I think it's important to measure results in one way or another. If the scale does bad things to your head, you can use camera phone photos or a snug pair of jeans. It can be a race time, a mood journal, or a number of push-ups. You need to be able to say I'm getting smaller, faster, stronger, happier (something toward your goal)...or I'm not. If you're not getting results then you can make adjustments.

21.   LASTLY, feel free to add anything that you want to share to those that might not have started working out, those that lack motivation or think they can’t do it, etc.

Find your own reason and pursue it your own way. If you hate gyms, or you love carbs, or you're not a morning person, you don't have to do the hated thing or give up the cherished thing in order to START. Instead of waking up one morning and trying to live someone else's life, make one change to your own. Go for a walk, drink more water, eat a vegetable, try a class, whatever you like and can manage. When your new habit becomes second nature, change one more thing, then one more, then one more. You don't have to change your whole life on the first day, you just have to keep moving in the right direction. Habits added individually over time will stick.

How much does this girl ROCK?? LOVE HER!!

Cover Your Eyes! This is Scandalous!

Don't cry. Don't tremble. It's OK. I know it's hard to see such a blatant, in-your-face visual attack of carbs! Hug yourself. 

This is what I had for lunch today. Today I ate an early lunch because I have back to back conference calls until about 5pm-6pm, at which time I will do a (yes I hate them) late workout. Because I know I'll be working out later, say from 6-7:30pm, it makes sense for me to eat something NOW, so I have more than enough time to digest and do some cardio later. (You all know, I have discovered how important it is for me to have a totally empty tummy to be able to do cardio effectively.)

Why am I posting this picture? Because this lunch today is something that in the past 2 years, I would have been horrified to even THINK about eating. It's a chicken salad sandwich made with roasted chicken breast, Miracle Whip Light, fresh tomato and whole wheat bread. 

Some of you may wonder, what's so bad about THAT? But many of you know what I am speaking to here. When you get into that crazy diet mindset, or are following a strict competition type diet, when all you really want is to get lean and healthy, you've probably been taught that the above lunch is nothing short of scandalous, it is blasphemy! 

My former Insane/Obsessive-Diet-Complex mind would have feared this as a meal and the thought process would go something like this, "OMG I can't have that. It's on TWO pieces of bread! Body For Life says I can have carbs but only 1 piece, not TWO!" or, "OMG I can't have BREAD! That's processed food! It's too many carbs! I should just have the chicken salad ONLY." or, "OMG I can't have Miracle Whip Light! That's "fake stuff" and it has sweetener in it! I should only have REAL mayo or better yet- NO FAT MUSTARD. Wait, better yet, just plain chicken breast on a plate." or, "OMG I can't have this roasted chicken breast, I'm sure that some of the fat from the skin that was on that chicken seeped in to the breast so it has more fat grams that just a plain boiled chicken breast!" or, "OMG this bread doesn't have enough fiber in it!" or, "OMG I can't put tomato on that sandwich, tomato is a fruit and I don't eat fruit." or, "I can't have whole wheat bread, I can only have sprouted grain/spelt/rice flour bread!", or "This is not the correct proportion of Protein/Carbs/Fats - I need to add more protein, less carbs, more fats OR More protein, less carbs and less fat!"

Stop. The. Insanity. 

If you try to follow all the "RULES" out there, you might get to 10% body fat. And my guess is you will be somewhat miserable inside, as I was. And I suggest that the vast majority of you trying to follow all these insane rules are NOT getting anywhere NEAR that low body fat AND YOU ARE MISERABLE. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm eating what I want now. But without question~ I MUST, and we all must control the AMOUNT OF FOOD WE EAT. And we all must get active and stay active. Period. 

I will NEVER GO BACK to Rule Madness. Take a peek at Skwigg's post today that also reflects some similar madness. Thank you Skwigg for starting me on the road to sane, real-life thinking about health and fitness. CLICK HERE. And thank you Skwigg for informing me about Brad Pilon and the Eat Stop Eat way of eating. AMEN. My life is forever changed.